A Wish for Zimbabwe

More Prudence celebrations in Harare – complete with motorcade!

Zimbabwe’s showbiz, arts, and lifestyle magazine Zimbo Jam reports about Prudence’s trip to Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, where a whole convoy drove her and the other band members of Liyana to see Zimbabwe’s officials, with Vice President Nkomo as the keynote speaker, honoring the Oscar win.

Quoting Prudence: “This is not my Oscar alone, but it’s for Liyana, it’s for King George VI, it’s for Zimbabwe, it’s for Africa… Yes we can, this is what Obama said and now this is what Zimbabwe is saying. Yes we can.”

Read the inspiring article here.

Tags | Harare, Prudence Mabhena, Zimbabwe, Zimbojam

Al Jazeera report on Prudence’s homecoming (video)

A great TV news report by Al Jazeera English, showing Prudence’s arrival back in Zimbabwe from the United States, after the Oscar win. It turned out to be just the beginning of a lot of great things to happen to Prudence…

Tags | Al Jazeera, Prudence Mabhena, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Times: Hero’s Welcome for Oscar Award Winner

The Zimbabwe Times reports about the arrival of Prudence Mabhena, star of Music by Prudence, back in Zimbabwe:

BULAWAYO – Oscar winning disabled musician Prudence Mabhena brought Bulawayo to a standstill when she arrived from the United States on Monday afternoon.

Hundreds of residents, who included politicians from both the MDC and Zanu-PF and the Mayor Patrick Thaba-Moyo, thronged Bulawayo Airport to welcome Mabhena, who landed at 1pm aboard a South Africa Airways flight. Read more…

Tags | Liyana, Oscar, Prudence Mabhena, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Times

Roger & Oscar (video)

As we now all know, on March 7th 2010, Roger Ross Williams won an Oscar for his documentary short Music by Prudence. It became quite an event…

Tags | acceptance speech, Larry King Live, Oscar, Roger Ross Williams, video clip

BBC Podcast: Ouch! It’s a Disability Thing!

Prudence and Marvelous, two of the film’s stars, where guests on Ouch!, the BBC podcast about the lives and experiences of people with a disability. They were on the phone from Zimbabwe, talking to the hosts in London, while director Roger Ross Williams joined in from the US. Yes, this was very international!

Listen to the interview right here:



Check out the Ouch! website. It has articles, blogs, a very busy message board and of course, the award-winning downloadable radio show – The Ouch Podcast.

Tags | BBC, disabled, interview, Marvelous, Ouch!, Prudence Mabhena, Roger Ross Williams, singing, Zimbabwe

New York Times: A Night Out with Roger Ross Williams

The New York Times reports on hanging out with the Oscar winner for best short documentary, Roger Ross Williams, as he makes the obligatory first stop for Oscar winners and nominees.

Read the full article online, or read the print version, appearing on March 14, 2010, on page ST4 of the New York edition.

Tags | A Night Out With..., interview, New York Times, Oscar, Roger Ross Williams

Thank you, Prudence!

The Oscar win last Sunday has been such a great gift. Not just for me, my crew, and HBO, for having made the film we wanted to make, but most of all for Prudence, her band Liyana, and the King George VI school for Children with Disabilities in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Prudence and her band members are disabled. She was abandoned and seen as a curse by the members of her family, and she has conquered so much and offers the world so much with her beautiful music.

When I started this project, I was very interested in making a film in Africa, yet I didn’t want to make a film about misery, war, or aids. I wanted to tell a story of hope. Read more…

Tags | KG6, King George VI, Liyana, Oscar, Prudence Mabhena, Roger Ross Williams

The Full Speech on Larry King Live!

Tonight, Monday March 8th, 9pm ET, director and producer Roger Ross Williams will be a guest on Larry King Live! He’ll be able to give the Oscar acceptance speech that was interrupted during the ceremony. Go Roger!
CNN – Larry King Live – 9pm ET | 6pm PT

Tags | interview, Larry King Live, Oscar, Roger Ross Williams

We won!!! We won!!! We won!!!

Music by Prudence just won the Oscar for Best Documentary short!!!!

Director and producer Roger Ross Williams couldn’t complete his acceptance speech on stage, but here is what he planned to say:

“Thank you, Academy. Thank you, Sheila Nevins, Sara Bernstein, my producer Elinor Burkett and my incredible crew.

I love you!!”

Tags | acceptance speech, Oscar, Prudence Mabhena, Roger Ross Williams

Nominated for an Oscar!

On February 2, 2010, my film, Music by Prudence, was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Documentary: Short Subject.

The responds so far has been overwhelming, and I like to thank everyone for their warm enthusiasm.

From the outset, this was a special project for me. Shooting in Zimbabwe was certainly one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had.

With the Oscar ceremony ahead on March 7, 2010, the coming weeks will be hectic. But I promise to keep you posted on al things to come from these pages.

Cheers!
Roger Ross Williams

Tags | Oscar, Oscar Nomination, Prudence Mabhena, Roger Ross Williams